Video: The New Paradigm of Landscape Irrigation

WATSONVILLE — Host, Sarah Rutan: Some people think things will simply return to normal after the California drought is over, but when it comes to landscape irrigation, what’s considered “normal” has shifted dramatically. Today we’re in Watsonville with Diamond Certified Expert Contributor Jerry Allison of Jerry Allison Landscaping to learn more.

Diamond Certified Expert Contributor, Jerry Allison: We’ve just lived through four years of drought, and although we hope this drought is over and that we can go back to normal, there’s really no normal anymore. We have all learned so much from this drought and living through it and learning to be responsible for the water that we use that all our methods have changed.

We now look at ways we can retain water on site through water retention systems. We actually have water catchment systems now that can pick up downspout water and also underground water from trench drains can be sent into cisterns, where water can be pumped out and put into the irrigation system. And not only ways of saving water and using water, but choosing appropriate plants for the soils and the microclimates in the areas on site that are most appropriate to those areas.

So as long as we can match the plants to the soils and try and use a good aesthetic approach to what we design and build, we will have long-term responsibility for what we do. There are many lawns now that are native grass lawns that use half as much as water as the old turf. And there’s underground drip irrigation systems that you can put in that use 60 percent less water than overhead sprinkler systems.

So we have learned a lot from the drought. We’ve learned to be more responsible. We’ve learned to be more careful with the use of water. And I think it will stick with us. Landscaping from here on out is different than it ever was and we’ll never go back.

Host, Sarah Rutan: To learn more from local top-rated companies, visit our Diamond Certified Expert Reports at experts.diamondcertified.org.